


Baby Shower

by rebel_wren



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Family, Ficlet, Fluff, Gen, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28696008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_wren/pseuds/rebel_wren
Summary: Hera walks into a surprise baby shower while pregnant with Jacen.
Relationships: C1-10P | Chopper & Hera Syndulla, CT-7567 | Rex & Hera Syndulla, Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios & Hera Syndulla, Hera Syndulla & Sabine Wren, Space Family (Star Wars Rebels)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Baby Shower

Hera stepped out of the briefing room on Yavin IV, only to see a smiling Zeb waiting for her. She tilted her head.

“What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “Just wanted to walk you home. That was a long meeting today, I was a little worried.”

Hera smiled, and rested one of her hands over her abdomen- which was just starting to grow with her pregnancy.

“That’s nice, Zeb, thank you.”

He came closer and reached out for her, gently taking her arm to walk her down the couple of steps. Hera didn’t need the help, but she didn’t bother to protest- it seemed everyone was treating her like she was extra delicate since she told them about the baby, and she’d learned that no amount of arguing changed that.

It wasn’t a long walk for them back to the  _ Ghost _ , and she had a nice, quiet walk through base with Zeb. Most of the mechanics and pilots were at lunch, so with the exception of the soldiers stuck on guard duty, the open area of the base was pretty empty, so Hera could listen to the low calls of Yavin IV’s birds and the natural sounds of wind blowing through the leaves and grass. They arrived at the  _ Ghost _ , walking up the open ramp- Zeb again taking her arm to help her walk up. 

“Thank you,” Hera said just as they arrived at the door towards the common room.

Zeb had a sideways grin on his face as he nodded, before pressing the button on the door panel. The doors slid open, and Sabine, Chopper and Rex were all waiting for her. Balloons and streamers decorated the ship, a banner (clearly made by Sabine) that read “Congratulations, Hera!” in an elegant script hung from the ceiling, and there were brightly colored bags and boxes piled on the floor. Hera’s jaw dropped, and she looked back at Zeb, who chuckled and gently nudged her forward.

“What is this?” Hera asked.

“It’s a baby shower, obviously,” Sabine said, coming forward to hug Hera. Hera quickly hugged her back, wrapping her arms tight around her.

“I didn’t know you were back from Lothal today,” Hera whispered.

“I wanted to surprise you.”

Hera pulled away, smiling at Sabine, and then she felt Chopper affectionately bump her leg.

“Be careful, Chop,” Sabine scolded. “She can’t fall!”

“I’m fine, Sabine, thank you,” Hera said with a warm smile. She looked to Rex and nodded.

“Nice to see you,” she said. Rex just shrugged.

“Of course,” he said. “I was happy to come when Zeb invited me.”

Hera looked back to Zeb, who was beaming proudly, and walked around her to join the others.

“You guys didn’t have to do all of this for me,” she said.

“Of course we did,” Zeb responded. “You’re family.”

Hera smiled at him, feeling warm inside.

“So…” Hera said slowly. “What do we do? I don’t think I’ve ever been to a baby shower before.”

“Well, we can eat,” Zeb said. “And you can open presents. I, uh, I couldn’t come up with any games to play, sorry.”

Hera stomach rumbled. “That’s okay. Eating sounds… really good right now.”

* * *

By the time they finished eating, Hera had knocked out nearly as many plates as Zeb had, and twice as many as Sabine did.

“You were  _ hungry _ , Hera,” Sabine commented as Hera finally finished. Hera just laughed and pointed to her stomach.

“Hey, eating for two.”

There was a brief pause while Rex put their plates away for them, which they all gratefully thanked him for. Finally, Zeb spoke up.

“You should open the presents now.”

“Oh, okay,” Hera said, shifting in her seat. “Who are they from?”

“These ones are from me,” Sabine said, pointing to one of the piles of boxes, all perfectly wrapped in colored flimsi. “The bags are from Zeb, and Rex gave you that big one there. We invited your dad, but he couldn’t make it, so he said he’d come visit with a present another time.”

“Open mine last,” Rex said as he came back from the kitchen, sitting down next to her.

Hera nodded.

“Don’t forget the Organas’” Zeb said, picking up a small box from the top and handing it to Hera. It was wrapped in a soft, dark blue fabric rather than flimsi like the ones from Sabine, and tied with a silver ribbon. Hera lifted her eyebrows.

“The Organas sent me this?”

Zeb nodded. “Senator Organa gave this to me so I could get it to you from him and his wife when word got out,” he said, gesturing vaguely towards Hera’s abdomen. “I told him I’d save it for the shower.”

Hera smiled and pulled the ribbon. It unraveled and she set it aside, carefully removing the fabric ans setting that aside too. The box was a beautiful, dark-stained wood. Hera ran her fingers over the rounded edges of it before lifting the top of the box off, and inside was a grey stuffed animal resembling a creature that Hera recognized to be an Alderaanian wolf-cat. The plush was stylized to be very cute, with big shiny eyes and soft faux-fur. Hera smiled and pulled it out of the box to show everyone. She saw a handwritten note in the bottom of the box, signed by Senator Organa and the Queen, explaining that it’s an Alderaanian custom to place a wolf-cat plush in the crib of a baby as a symbol of protection.

_ The traditional toys are much more fearsome-looking than this one, _ the note read.  _ But Leia always cried when we put a traditional one in her crib, so we found someone who made these. We hope you and your child enjoy it, and we wish you a healthy pregnancy and delivery, General. _

Hera placed the stuffed animal back in the box, and set it aside. She clasped her hands.

“Alright, who’s presents am I opening next?”

Chopper let out a loud warble, and rolled up to her carrying a small bag in one of his mechanical arms. Hera chuckled and took it from him.

“Alright, Chop, you first.”

She reached into the bag- Chopper hadn’t bothered to stuff the top with tissue like she could see in Zeb’s bags- and pulled out a boxed set of pacifiers in different colors. Her face lit up- she wasn’t sure what she expected from Chopper, but it certainly wasn’t this.

“Chopper, thank you, this is really thoughtful.”

Chopper proudly explained that he had done some research in the databanks about babies, and bought the pacifiers himself at a market the last time they’d visited Lothal to drop off Sabine. Hera chuckled and rubbed the top of his dome, thanking him again for the gift.

She opened Sabine’s gifts next, most of them being different sets of clothes and toys for the baby. She thanked Sabine for each one. Zeb’s gifts were a little more practical- diapers, blankets, a pump, ointments, bottles, and a changing pad. Hera was very grateful for him- she knew Zeb had a child on Lasan before the Empire’s attack, and though he didn’t talk about it much, she was grateful for the advice he’d already offered her, and now for all of the things she could use.

“Alright,” Rex said once Hera set aside the last of Zeb’s gifts. “My turn.”

He stood up and pushed the large box towards Hera, stepping back and folding his arms to watch. He hadn’t wrapped it, so it was just a plain, gray color. Hera smiled and leaned over to open the top of the box. She looked inside, and her mouth fell open when she realized what it was- it was the parts to assemble a crib for the baby. She looked up at Rex, her surprised expression forming slowly into a smile.

“Rex, thank you.”

Rex sheepishly ran a hand over the back of his neck.

“Well, I don’t know that much about babies, but I do know you gotta put ‘em somewhere. I can help you put that together, if you want. I think there’s instructions in there.”

Hera nodded, and stood up from her seat, walking around the box to go and hug Rex.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “You’re a good friend.”

Hera was grateful for all of their presents, but to be honest, she was even more grateful for the show of support to her that the get-together was. She was certainly nervous about having a child, but being reminded that she wasn’t alone in it meant more to her than she thought her family would ever know.


End file.
